What a wonderful, amazing, much needed and Holy Spirit-filled idea… My husband just six months ago took over as a Senior Pastor of a small church… and being in ministry we realize how important mental health is…It’s something I’ve struggled with over the years, it’s something that God brought me through, though I have occasional down days. God brought healing and beauty from the ashes and has allowed me to share my testimony. Depression is not something that Christians don’t experience. It’s a growing issue that pastors need to speak about, especially pastors and families who have traveled this road before…Any help I can be…My honest prayer is to be an advocate, to evenually get my book published and help as many people as possible!!

Natalie and her husband are just two of the people I hold in prayer when I write this blog and that Eric and I will lift up as we do the podcast. There is a dangerous gap between faith communities and the world of mental health. Eric and I have lived in both worlds. Our desire is to share hope with those who have troubled minds and foster compassion within communities of faith towards those with mental illness.

Many of you, like Natalie, want to be involved in this vital mission. What can you do to help? Our primary need we have is prayer. Prayer may not get us all we want, but through prayer, God gives us what we need. At this point, we would be delighted if you pray for:

1) Financial Resources: Our upcoming Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign goes live next Monday, November 20, and runs through December 20. Your gifts will fund pre-production costs. We will be sending out an email this weekend with more information.

2) Emotional stability: We each have a number of commitments. Eric is a husband and father. He works full-time, is a leader at his church, and co-leader of our mental health support group. I have fewer responsibilities, but my illness is more progressed. My tightrope is more like a thread and the weights on either side of my balancing pole keep shifting.

3) Creative stamina: We are doing something that, in some ways, has never been done. We have done extensive research and can find no other mental health podcast that is faith-based and peer-produced. We must be crazy to undertake such a project. Which, of course, we are. We even have the paperwork to prove it. We want our podcast to be both formative and informative, to reveal voices hidden and silenced, to break down stigma with stories. And we want to have fun. If listeners laugh at or with us once each episode, that would be wonderful. It may be the only laugh they enjoy all week.